Ga. Supreme Court to hear appeal of Savannah murder conviction

Monday

The Georgia Supreme Court ton June 18 will hear oral arguments for an Ellabell man who is challenging his murder conviction in the 2016 slaying of a Savannah woman during a shoot-out.

Javon Tyler Jackson, 20, and his half-brother, Rodney Smith, 18, were convicted in Chatham County Superior Court in October 2017 in the slaying of Stephanie Monique Smith, 30, who was killed on Aug. 20, 2016, while riding in a SUV.

A second women in the vehicle was shot but survived.

Jackson was sentenced to life plus 15 years in prison.

Only Jackson’s appeal is before the Supreme Court on June 18.

A key issue at trial was identification since neither the surviving victim nor the other witness in the vehicle was able to identify the shooter at trial.

Prosecutors relied on two witnesses who initially gave police statements about the crime scene, but who at trial testified they could not remember certain circumstances of the shooting.

In his appeal, Jackson, represented by former Chatham County Chief Assistant District Attorney David Lock, now in appellate practice, argues the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, that the court improperly allowed bad character evidence before the jury and that his trial attorney was ineffective.

Prosecutors Chatham County District Attorney Meg Heap, her chief assistant, Greg McConnell, and the state attorney general’s office argue the evidence supported the convictions, and that evidence, even if it incidentally placed the defendant’s character in evidence, was admissible.

And they argue that bad character evidence was already an issue since jurors knew of his prior felony conviction based on charges against him for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Trial testimony showed a Nissan Rogue driven by Ebony Washington, with Smith in the passenger's seat, engaged in a gunfire exchange at Jefferson and West 32nd streets. Savannah-Chatham police found both women in the car at Victory Drive and Barnard streets.

Smith died at Memorial Health University Medical Center. Washington survived.

Prosecutors contended there had been previous problems between the occupants in the car and those on the corner. Savannah-Chatham police recovered 29 9 mm shell casings at the scene.

Testimony showed the two defendants fled to a house in the 300 block of West 32nd Street. When police executed a search warrant for that residence, they found two 9 mm handguns in the toilet bowl tank which ballistics matched to the shell casings found at the scene.

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